A black woman artist speaks. Will you speak back?

March 2009

March 29, 2009

Not only is art education in public schools on a resuscitator that is malfunctioning, but regular education in America is a joke!

Frustrated with the lack of curiosity, commitment to hard work, respect for others, respect for time, inability to follow simple instructions and difficulty completing simple tasks that our students display, I have been trying to figure out what to do! I'm proud to say my hometown, Philadelphia has a plan.

I have been teaching in some capacity for much of my life. And I enjoy it very much, especially seeing students develop self confidence as they acquire new skills. But I am appalled by the various deficits students arrive with from their high schools, and though I understand it can be embarrassing to be unable to produce a result that others around you can, I am puzzled about the indifference to learning I perceive from some students.

I have never thought the schools had to teach EVERYTHING! But how to use a ruler! How to follow simple directions! How to construct a grammatically sound simple sentence! These are skills that many students do not have.

I think the problem is that people who want to teach go to public school and are not taught the basics because they have teachers who have not been taught the basics so they can only teach what they know and think is correct methodology. There has been created a perpetual cycle of mis-learning and bad teaching by mis-taught teachers, who don't know any better. The cycle spirals out of hand until the standards are lost into just teaching to the test.

So this is another reason why the arts are essential. In visual art there is always more than one way to achieve the goal. In art there is a possibility for personal expression, so students can purge themselves of every day stress. They develop problem solving skills that can be applied to all areas of their lives. There is also a need to be able to calculate and measure, for example if you work in watercolor and need a border on your paper or you learn to cut a mat for the watercolor when its done, or you draw in linear perspective. Students mix chemicals when they work with clay or paints and printmaking. They write about their work, and critique it verbally so they learn to speak in public. There is an opportunity to develop critical thinking as students learn to choose a way of working and method of evaluating what they have created.

Students can share their concerns, their anger, their confusion, their hopes, dreams and doubts through the arts (visual, music, theater, dance). That ability to release emotions through art might stem the high tide that brought us almost 30 deaths of school age students in the first 3 months of 2009 in Chicago.

So people, lobby for art at all class levels, bringing art teachers in to allschools, not just the rich neighborhoods, and the special schools for the smart kids!

If we want to build a smarter nation, with people who have skill sets that will help us progress as we encounter the various changes the 21st Century is bringing, we have to educate ALL!!!!!!

Top: CSU students learning about art by visiting the President's Gallery during an exhibition honoring Hispanic/Latino Heritage Month in 2008. Bottom art: Allen Moore, a Chicago State student produced this 16" x 20" acrylic painting for a 2008 student exhibition on campus.

Suffering from a long history of negative stereotypes and the harsh
realities of urban living, Chicago’s Southside community &
residents have struggled to gain the many benefits afforded to the larger Chicagoland area. This
“invisibility”, has also affected the artistic community in such a way,
that internationally recognized artists have struggled to make their mark in their own city.

This program will explore the areas social & cultural history, as
well as the numerous creators & institutions from within the
community that have been active participants in dispelling myths about the Southside of Chicago.
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March 20, 2009

Ms. Faith Ringgold, center, continues to work hard at being an artist! She has been awarded 52 commissions (see below for details).

Faith Ringgold was in the forefront, fighting for equity for women artists, in the 1970's. We still have a ways to go, but she and other artists in New York City raised their voices to complain that women were not in exhibitions at the major institutions such as the Whitney Annual.

The Hatch-Billops website presents an amusing clip of Ringgold (preceded by an intro to the collection...it's worth looking at this). In the video done by the archivists, she comments about conditions for women in the 1970's and the satisfaction some women were feeling about their progress. I paraphrase:

"The white women were getting into shows, and showing with the guys and selling their work. But I wasn't!"

But she kept pressing forward. She found a way to make her large scale work portable and mailable at affordable costs, by creating paintings that were decorated using quilting on the edges that did not need framing (her mom, Willi Posey Jones, a clothing designer showed her how). And by the way, through this process of solving a problem, she invented her signature style.

She made soft sculpture, and wrote successful books, another great way to have her art seen by a large part of the population.

My personal connection to Ms. Ringgold is that she juried a show I submitted to in Chicago at Woman Made Gallery in 2005. I won First Prizeout of about 1200 pieces submitted by international artists, to the surprise of the gallery folks! I will always be grateful for that stamp of approval!

The gallery may or may not have thought it a fluke that I won until I repeated a win when I was awarded First Prize from ArtNews correspondent Margaret Hawkins a few years later!

I have been following Faith Ringgold for years.

Faith Ringgold in front of her quilt, Tar Beach, 1993.

AP Photo from Encyclopedia Britannica

She is an inspiration. She is an arts advocate, a supporter of women artists and a very generous and nurturing woman who teaches and encourages. And she works harder than many people I know who complain that they are not getting their share! Work like Faith Ringgold and then complain! After you produce a TON of work, write a few books.

I did a review of Ms Ringgold's autobiography, We Flew Over theBridge. See an excerpt belowfrom my down-to-earth review for the Journal of African American History in red...notice the other writers! I first saw this today as I wrote this post! "Faith Ringgold has already won my heart as an
artist, as a woman, as an African American and now with her entry into
the world of autobiography (where I dwell), she has taken my heart
again. She writes so beautifully."--Maya Angelou "Faith Ringgold has
created a rich and highly informative work not only of her own life as
an American in general but as an African American in particular. These
memoirs are a part of American history--of what it means to be an
artist, a writer, and a philosopher in our society."--Jacob Lawrence
"In words that are as direct, honest, full of color and life as her
paintings, Ringgold gives each reader the greatest gift of all--courage
to be one's own unique and universal self."--Gloria Steinem "The story
of Ringgold's triumph--achieved through sheer determination, savvy, and
self-conviction--is both accessible and inspiring."--Lowery Stokes
Sims, Executive Director, The Studio Museum in Harlem "Faith Ringgold's
exuberant and original art has made her one of America's more important
artists and a feminist heroine. Now her wonderfully honest memoirs will
resonate with all political and creative women who are still fighting
the battles Ringgold has won."--Lucy Lippard, author of The Pink Glass
Swan: Selected Essays on Feminist Art "Bridging is the major motif of
Ringgold's life ... She is a bridge between the Harlem Renaissance and
the civil rights era. She is a bridge between her mother's applied art
of fashion design and her own fine art of painting and story quilts.
She is a bridge between the black power movement and the women's
movement. And she is a bridge between the abstract art that dominated
the '60s and the issue-oriented art that connected with viewers'
hearts--and lives."--Carrie Rickey, The Philadelphia Inquirer "A memoir
is revealing on two levels: since it's selective remembering, what the
author chooses to tell us about herself ends up telling us something
additional. WE FLEW OVER THE BRIDGE is candid, sometimes humorous,
sometimes bordering on bitter, and almost quilt-like as she pieces
together a wide range of topics, from the intensely personal to
political and professional. Harlem at the close of the Renaissance, the
art world's resistance to nonwhite artists, Black Power's resistance to
feminism, combining marital life and parenthood with a career - all are
viewed through her unique lens." --Gerri Gribi,
www.AfroAmericanHeritage.com "Part cultural history, part coming-of-age
story, part romance and part portrait of perseverance..."--Diane
McKinney-Whetstone, Essence "One of the country's most preeminent
African-American artists and award-winning children's book authors,
shares the fascinating story of her life, complete with family
pictures."--Ebony "This story told in numerous engaging family photos,
art work reproductions and lore, is now getting a much-deserved,
broader distribution. The story artist Faith Ringgold tells is one of
warm family relations, sustaining friendships, and the challenge of
overcoming prejudices. The book also is a visual chronicle of African
American fashion and style."--The International Review of African
American Art

"Ringgold provides juicy autobiographical stories,
supplemented with personal photographs as well as ample illustrations
and descriptions of her work. It is a memoir every artist should
read... The book is informative, forthright, and fun, and is a great
teaching tool for both emerging and established artists."--Joyce Owens
Anderson*, The Journal of African American History

March 09, 2009

Thank goodness it's a new world order since the days Barbie first showed her face (and tiny waist) in 1959.

Or is it?

With all the racist backlash to the Obama administration via cartoons and conservative show hosts, I wonder? What do you think? Are we post-race, yet?

Below are images of the installation from an exhibition at The Koehnline Museum. Patrick Miceli curated the exhibition asking various artists to design their own Barbie or G.I. Joe. Go to the link to read about the other artists!

Pages

Joyce's News!

Won Award!

During the College Art Association meeting the Women's Caucus for Art also met in Chicago. I was one of six Chicago women artists winning this year's award for excellence. Thank you WCA and CWCA for this great honor!
http://www.chicagowca.com/programs.html

African American Arts Alliance Award

Won for Excellence in the Visual Arts
presented at the DuSable Museum on October 26, 2009 by Monica Haslip, founder of Little Black Pearl in Chicago.
Thanks Jackie Taylor, Nora brooks Blakley, Chuck Smith and other esteemed members of A.A.A.A.

Ragdale Fellow

The list of Ragdale Fellow's will just blow your mind! I am now in the number and greatly appreciate being awarded this prize and honor by 3Arts.